Chinese Dinner Extravaganza

We were invited to go out to dinner to Miranda's family restaurant. The drivers picked us up outside the school and we headed into town. When we walked into the restaurant we knew this was going to be amazing. We had heard they owned a pretty famous restaurant in Nanjing and it was beautiful.

Once we sat down the dishes started to come. We ooo'd and awe'd over the incredible presentation and the amazing flavors.

They had a salad that was so good! There were tons of veggies too. The food of course kept coming, with a minimum of 20 dishes. At the end came the most delectable mango sorbet. It was almost like a really fine Hawaiian ice. Oh man it was good. When we thought it was over then came dragon fruit and mangoes.
As we sat around the table and attempted to communicate with the parents, who spoke no Chinese, all the waiters and waitresses burst through the door pushing a table with candles. The lights went off and then a speech was presented by the happiest man.

He greeted us and thanked us. The table said welcome out of sesame seeds. Then they busted out in dancing to one of the very popular songs here. It was like being on a cruise ship. Everyone was clapping and singing along. Then they invited us up to dance with them. It was incredible! What a fun and exciting night we had!

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The Day We Became Celebrities

This week we started English classes at a new school. It is a public school about 15 minutes away from our campus. We were told to prepare lessons on days of the week, months, and festivals in America and that we would be teaching third through fifth grade.

Not knowing much else Jerem and I forwarded the information to the six teachers who were taking on this project and hoped for the best. I was to go with them to check in and make sure thing were smoothly. This morning we met our drivers at 7:30 and they took us the campus. We were immediately met by smiling teachers who were so thrilled we were there.

They took us on a quick tour of the campus and then to the canteen to give us noodles. They were so warm and inviting, we knew this was going to be great. The girls then headed to their classrooms and I went back and forth between to observe and check in. First of all, there were 40 kids in each class.. FORTY! But they were so well behaved. They were exactly what we thought Chinese classes would be like. The kids were BEYOND excited to have us there. They about died when we walked in. We learned later that they had never had foreign teachers on campus before. After the first lesson kids started coming up to us with pens and books asking for our signature.

We were confused at first but with the permission of the Chinese teachers went ahead. Within seconds there were dozens of kids pressed up against us throwing books, journals, post it notes, lesson books and pens in our faces. We could not sign fast enough.

We looked at each other and just started laughing like crazy. Then the bell rang, which by the way is a pleasant song or chime- America take note it is much better than the annoying bells you have. After the second lesson the swarms started again and once again we were being attacked by crazed fans. The teachers hurried them away to morning exercises where the kids stood in perfect lines and practiced a memorized exercise routine during recess. After the third round of classes when most books had been signed the hug berg-aide came. One after another we were met by eager arms and warm hugs. I am not kidding you if you are ever feeling sad or in need of a smile come to this school. It was insane. Even when we went into the break room they swarmed the windows and greeted us telling us how beautiful we were.

Once lessons were finished we were invited to stay for lunch and to see the kids at PE- really Kenz just wanted to play basketball and was so excited when we got to shoot some hoops and run laps with them.

This school rocks. I can't wait until next week, when I become famous once again.

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The Day we Became the Museum

We wanted to explore somewhere in Nanjing and so after much debate and lack of planning we thought heading to the Nanjing Museum sounded like an easy enough adventure. 

For purposes of this blog post we indicated myself, Claire, and Mikelle. 

We arrived to the museum and began to explore. It started as any museum trip does walking around, pondering the past, and gazing at endless museum things. 

As we wandered through the corridors we saw something intriguing ahead. The museum was reproduced to resemble a street somewhere in China. I would tell you where but there was a lack of English translations. It was a full reproduction with buildings fronts, stores, lanterns, the works. Super cute!

So we head into a cafe so they could get some waffles. It was an adorable cafe with cute chairs and furniture. As we sat at the window one of us probably myself or Mikelle came up with the idea of holding very still and pretending to be an exhibit. I mean why not, everyone stares at us anyway. So we all struck a pose and gazed out the window at the bystanders. 

It's actually really creepy when you don't move. We took a video and watched it afterwards and it's freaky. People began to walk by anddo a double take. We enjoyed trying new poses and staring at the intrigued onlookers. Then one of us had the bright idea to move suddenly and throw ourself at the window to scare the bejeebees out of them. Oh. My. Best idea ever. 

They would stop in crowds to take our picture through the widow and just at the right moment we would all jump against the window. At one point there was a big group of young college girls all staring and taking photos. Mikelle went for it and jumped. The girls all in unison kept backwards and screamed. Of course we died of laughter. Laughter so hard tears are running down our face. The crowd gets bigger wondering what's going on. It was hilarious. We did it over and over u til we decided we really didn't want to get kicked out of the museum. But it happens to be one of my new favorite memories of Nanjing. Then we decided to play on these socially weird behaviors. We would find a corner and just freeze. People got way weirded out. Mikelle would find someone, walk up to them and just stare at them. Very interesting experiment. 

It was the best museum experience. The museum itself was Incredible as well. They even had some dinosaurs.

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A Chinese Easter

Shanghai was so much fun! On Saturday straight from the metro we decided to find Pearl City. A nice lady came out of the metro and helped us which was great and another one of our guardian angels. We found the peal city and headed to the peal store. I ended up buying even more pearls, go figure. But come on it's pure classy jewelry that will never go out of style and something I constantly love. Then it was time for more shopping and walking around. After this we headed to West Street. As soon as we got off the metro and went up the stairs I saw it: Marks & Spencer's. Remember when I lived in Europe? Remember when I went to M&S almost every day? Yeah. Okay. I was obsessed. I still am. I literally would have ran except I was behind the girls in my group who unfortunately had never been to M&S before and didn't realize this was a running experience. I was so happy in that store!

Of course I got our favorite cookies, even though they were a small Chinese fortune. The girls ended up getting some fresh baked cookies from the bakery which I had never had before. Big mistake. I tried it. Obsessed. Pure joy. Those cookies were on the American standard of good. I however, did not try them until we were at dinner which meant I had to bribe and pay those inexperienced girls to let me have half of their cookie. Totally worth it. Then we walked around and enjoyed the cute street and American shopping. Got some clothes at Old Navy on major clearance. It was just an enjoyable night, even though we were walking around lugging our suitcases.
That night we got to our hostel and they had given away our 6 bed dorm and told us we had to be in an 8. I threw a small fit and got us all free breakfast the next morning.

We ate that free breakfast on Sunday morning, Easter. Eggs. Eggs gross me out. Big time. Especially eggs that have runny yoke. It is like instant gag reflex. As if an egg is not disgusting enough then you go and make it gooey and runny. Vomit. We decided we would hit shopping before church since we were short on time.
We got off the metro where the giant shopping should be- by the way the stop is called the Science and Technology something and you best go here if you are ever in Shanghai. So we got off and to our utter dismay the shopping that once took up the entire stop was gone.... how could it be gone? We couldn't figure out what had happened. A little lady suddenly popped up and said shopping? Why yes mam how did you know? ;) She begins to lead us down a dark corridor at which I am slightly uneasy and planning my attack for when crazys come out of the dark. I told Mikelle we should stay back so when the other two get kidnapped we can call for help. Anyway turns out the market that we couldn't figure out where it had gone to was just not oepen yet. The lady was taking us to the one shop that was open. From here it got funny. She got on the phone and started calling people to come open their shops. Then as they arrived we got a guided tour from shop to shop. Finally around 10 the whole place opened up and the shopping began.
I got some Lulu lemon capris, adorable sports bras and then all hell broke loose. Before I begin I will say I am grateful it happened because it kept me from shopping or spending any more money because I was so unsettled and upset after it happen. Here we go:
Jordy in our group has a tendency to pay way to much for things. I am a hard bargain and want it for the cheapest they can go. So we walk buy and she is going to spend 260 for something we could get for 150. We tell her not to pay and to walk away. She stays and keeps negotiating. I leave and move on.We check in on her and the lady keeps shoving the jacket into her bags and holds them shut demanding money. I can tell the situation is getting heated and wish she would just leave. This continues because they can't come to an agreement.  Later I get a text: Come back to the jacket store. Okay. I go back and there is a fight going on. It was actually quite scary. The gist is that Jordy paid but the lady did not give back all her change. Jordy is yelling at the lady saying she won't leave until she gets her money back and the lady is yelling it's in my pocket what are you going to do about it. It was heated and not good. I was a bit intimidated because this lady was truly crazy. I walk and start to look for a cop or for someone to help but of course I cannot find anyone. At this point Jordy has to just leave the change, and I find out it was only 4Y which is less than $1. All this for a $? I get that it sucks the lady won't give her change but at this point I am worried about both our safety. As we finally walk away the lady is cursing F you F your family. On and on. She is livid and scary. I turn with my phone to take a picture of the shop # so we can avoid it and so that if we found someone to help us we could go back.

The lady comes sprinting at me screaming full force. I literally thought I was going to get in my very first cat fight. I was terrified. I was scared that she was going to deck me. She was in my face. I was guarding my phone because that is the last thing I wanted taken and slowly started to back away and then booked it. Really. It was not good. I was ticked. I was mad that this stupid situation even happened.
Turns out the other two girls walked by and the lady said she would kill Jordy if she even came close to her shop again.
What a huge stupid avoidable mess.
Fast forward to church.

Church was great! It was so spiritual and so uplifting. I am so glad we got to go. RS was about pain and how the atonement can take away pain. I was almost moved to tears as she wrote up all our pains and sufferings on the board and we sat there together looking at the things that were hurting us on the daily and then talked about how the Savior has felt all these things and can take it away. We talked about happiness and how the Lord is looking out for us. It was great to be reminded that even through the pains of life the reason we are here is to learn, grow, be happy, and go back. I know that each day is really a gift and I am so glad I am living my dream. Even though I have so many worries about going home and getting back into reality and my future I know it is going to be okay. I am choosing to live in the present and accept myself, my situation, and look for the good.

After church this adorable lady Sister Roundy invited us to stay for a YSA dinner. She had made mashed potatoes, chicken, fruits, veggies, salad and even had little bags of Easter candy! Just like Grammy! I almost cried again. It was really hard to not be home for Easter with all my family and doing our traditions but that little bad of candy and the little furry chick she put by our plates made all the difference. We ate around a humble table with paper plates in a small room of the hotel that we rent as a church building. I had Easter with our adopted grandma, a guy from Kenya and a lady from Madagascar. Talk about one to remember. After we headed on the metro and saw these cute kids. We gave them our little furry chicks and plastic Easter egg and they were so happy.
Mikelle and I then headed to the

Shanghai Circus World Acrobat Show.
The show was incredible! People are way talented. We were on the edge of our seat the whole time fearing for their lives and wondering how they can bend their bodies like that. It was a great show!

Monday we headed back to M&S to get cookies. Mikelle appreciated the pure divinity of the cookies so she accompanied me back to my paradise.

Then we went to this amazing street called Tanzifang Art Center. It is these cute alleys all intertwined and strung with lights, flowers on every door, artist painting, art galleries, and delicious food. There was also a food court right off the metro that was huge and overwhelming for us! Ice cream and dessert places everywhere. It was a foodie's dream. In

Tanzifang Mikelle and I found this Trifelle place that had an oreo and cream trifle. It was divine. We ended up dropping 40Y for it, which was a ridiculous price but we got to keep the cute little jar and it was so good.

From here we had to head back to the hostel. It started to rain. Mikelle bought an umbrella that withing 3 minutes started to break into pieces. The whole way back to the hostel it broke more and more and I laughed harder and harder. Don't worry I offered to share my umbrella but really it was hilarious and we were soaked. Shanghai Easter weekend was an incredible adventure and one I will cherish.

Hagaha one more thing. On the way back Mikelle started talking to a lady at the train station and showing her pictures on her phone. It started with just one lay and soon turned into this:

No joke.

So we took the biggest chinese selfie yet:

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11:11 Luck.

11:11. Sitting. 11:13 train leaves. 

What. A. Mess.

The positive?

I got a lot of cardio. However high intensity sprinting with a suitcase in tow, through a sea of Chinese is not necessarily what I wanted. But we made it. 

Let's start at the beginning shal we?

We, Nichole Jordy Mikelle and myself, were supposed to leave at 9:30. We didn't leave until 9:45 and we didn't know we were going to the south station.   At 10:55 we got off the metro. Jordy realizes she doesn't have her passport. What do we do now? We pray, then we try and get on. For the only time ever they barely check our ID and they let Jordy through. It's now 11. We run up an escalator. Then we learn that our terminal is a22 the very last one. Running commences. We get there and run again. We are car 16. The very first car. We are running high speed parallel to the train at car 5. Whistles are blowing. At car 12 I start screaming just get on the train. Just get on the train. We get to our seat. 

11:11.

The train pulls out at 11:13. 

What a way to begin our trip. In good news we get to spend the weekend in Shanghai. 

Will write more as the adventure goes on. 

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